Letterpress printed playing cards on real-deal duplexed card stock with an opaque blue core. All the pip cards, designs on the backs of the cards, and the box were printed from hand-set lead type and borders. Royalty, Jokers, and Ace of Spades were printed from plates. Cards were hand fed one at a time (for each color!) on a 114 year-old Chandler & Price platen press. For each deck of cards I fed the press somewhere between 135 to 189 times, not counting the box! Ambitious, yes. Not my smartest idea, maybe. Worth it, totally.

Don’t pull out some weak-ass deck of truck stop paying cards at your next poker night. These cards have SOUL!

2020 MONOTYPES — in which random found materials are inked, pressed against paper within orderly boundaries, then lost again. Composed one at a time on a newspaper proofing press, no two alike. Series 1 (b/w) and 2 (color) are 8.5 x 11, image area 3.625 x 6.625. Series 3 prints are bigger.

Most posters in this gallery were printed using hand-set antique wood and metal type. Some have hand carved block prints or other weird stuff. Some are beautiful, some are utilitarian, some are abominations.

Some are available in the store for purchase if you want to have one for your own. I can also make custom posters for you. It’s a great way to promote events in the physical world where nobody really lives anymore.

In Fall 2018 I was honored to be invited to do an installation of print art at Paper Machine - the print and book annex of the amazing Antenna Gallery in New Orleans. It seemed an excellent opportunity to explore atypical concepts in letterpress printing and how they can be presented. One wall was colorful and deliberately random in every aspect. Prints were placed on the wall according to a random number generator. Some even wound up hidden behind other prints! Several were also suspended on a framework of wires that were struck randomly by solenoids, and microphones attached to the wires passed audio through a randomized filter and into small speakers. The opposing wall was structured and minimalist, the only visible variations of the same square image being incidental artifacts of the printing process from ink distribution or minor irregularities with the paper. The prints resembled frames from a film. Small speakers played a randomized collage of movie soundtracks, chattering film projectors, and a recording of the press as the prints were being made. The connecting wall featured “fractionation” prints, which were created by layering scrambled fragments of alphanumeric characters.

Coasters are fun to print, and they are good to have around so you don't mess up your furniture. Have some class! Throw those bar napkins on the fire and use a fancy coaster. Some are square. Some are circles.

I don’t do very many books, but I did do one about butts printed on dirty paper. I also made an art/audio book with a bunch of my favorite people about moonshiners. They are hand sewn small editions and probably all gone and I will never make more because SPECIALNESS. Time keeps on slipping into the future.

Tear away calendars, art prints, broadsides, business cards, tags, etc...